habitat ~ 03/03/14 ~ Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve

Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve

March 3, 2014

Fellow blogger Ken @ Nature of a Man and I met up at Purisima Creek to look for salamanders and whatever else we could find.  He's very familiar with the preserve and all its contents since it's closer to where he lives. Even though it's an easy 2 hour drive north along Hwy 1 for me, I had never been before.  We watched the weather pretty closely to maximize our sightings potential, but then we ended up deciding it didn't always have to be newt parades and ladybug parties, like last month.  The redwoods here are gorgeously dark and cool.  That lush flush of bright green soothes my parched soul.  I loved tromping all over, including in the creek.  As with rain, you try to stay dry, but once you slip and get wet, then it's a free for all.  I definitely want to return with Andy sometime.  Thank you, Ken, for sharing one of your favorite perennial creeks with me!  The specific IDs will be forthcoming. 

rough-skinned newt ~ 03/03/14 ~ Purisima Creek

rough-skinned newt
Taricha granulosa

Salamandridae

Often, I have to see something in person to really "get it".  Ken @ Nature of a Man showed me these very clearly defined rough-skinned newts.  Their dark color is distinctive, especially with a sharp, solid color divide, under the eye area, extending around the upper lip.  I found the color in my newt pictures can be wholly misleading from what I remember, depending on lighting conditions, and/or if a camera flash is used, and/or what the predominant surrounding color is, like these redwood needles here.  They look much darker in real life than my pictures indicate.

Do these eyes NOT extend past the margin of the head?

OK.  Love, love the toes.  Four in front, five in back and all dipped in yellow around the purlicue.  I find myself silently squealing like an 80's Valley Girl, "Like, oh my god!  Awesome!"

Yeah, but... I still don't get the eye margin and lower eyelid diagnostics when compared to CA newts (T. torosa).  We've noted quite a bit of gradation of characteristics among individual newts, especially at Stevens Creek where we saw so many.  It seems like T. granulosa and T. torosa intergrade, but I'm not sure that's known for a fact.  I believe Ken is gathering observational evidence.

I dunno, everyone sees things a little differently.  A friend once claimed that different cultures see colors very differently, and I suspect he was right.  I didn't necessarily agree with his claim of cultural basis, although that could very well be true.  I figure different groups of people would have natural genetic differences in how their eyes physically process information.  It's like how I, an Asian, can squat very low, and my husband, a Scandanavian, can barely cross his legs.  Same difference.

regenerating newt tail

It's crazy cool how newts can regrow body parts.  Remember for a while there, I had considered going back to school to study salamanders?  After talking it over with numerous people, I have decided it's not the best idea for me.  First, I didn't have any pressing questions about them.  What would I research?  I already know I don't like working on someone else's passion project, particularly when they die on me and leave me with a mess of handwritten scraps.  I want to follow my own questions and paths.  Plus, if I were honest, I truly only wanted to raise newts and salamanders 'cause they're cute, but under the guise of "in the name of science" (hey, it happens).  To do this, I'd have to handle them a lot.  Guess what?  They're toxic, very much so, producing tetrodotoxin (TTX), "the most poisonous nonprotein substance known to scientists."  Yeah, sure, you can be careful washing hands and such, but can you be sure to be careful all the time?  Ever since my first collegiate research project involving the unusual mating ritual of an x-large, yet incredibly beautiful, tropical mosquito (Limatus durhamii), I knew fairly quickly from first-hand experience (i.e., many itchy, sleepless nights with arms swollen from a colony's worth of female mosquito bites) that I did not want to study anything that sucks blood, bites, stings, poisons, or kills.  Seriously.  Then, there's another conundrum surrounding all herps, the dratted pet trade.  I don't know if it is "dratted" and bad, but it's what I've heard.  So that leads to a lot of secrecy, loads, so secret the CIA... uh, nevermind.

habitat ~ 09/29/13 ~ Rocky Creek

Rocky Creek

September 27, 28, and 29, 2013

There was only a core group of 10 of us with 4 small dogs that camped this time.  The girlfriend invited her recently engaged friends, and I invited a fellow local blogger, Bread on the Water, and her husband down for a visit.  We had a bit less revelry than in the past, with no cocktail hour visitors and an evening honoring 2 of our friends who died recently.  Rocky Creek is a special place filled with fond memories.

The pond was engineered by one of the family members who's a hydrologist.  The overflow goes right back into Rocky Creek.   There are several decent sized fish that jump around on occasion. 

I'm always amazed at the power of the wind to mold redwood trees into sculptural shapes.  And, yes, there always seems to be something in bloom, such as this silver bush lupine.

Here's what happens to tanbark oaks when Sudden Oak Death hits them.  SOD first started appearing in this canyon maybe about 10 years ago (?).  

And last, here's a view of Rocky Creek Bridge from the lower property road.  Caltrans is still working on repairing and upgrading a section of Hwy 1 just south of the Bridge that slid into the ocean 2 years ago.  BigSurKate has excellent updates on road closures there.

ps 10/22/13 - For a blog post about a recently released paper on SOD and redwoods, check out BigSurKate.

autumn thoughts

Garland Ranch Regional Park - Garzas Creek

September 22, 2013

I feel like autumn arrived 3 weeks early this year.  Does anyone else feel like that, too?  I can't really put my finger on why.  Maybe it was the sound of the waves crashing earlier than I expected?  Or maybe it was my first seasonal sighting of a Townsend's warbler on 09/15/13, a whole month earlier than I've seen them previously (Roberson states wintering extremes run from early September to mid-April)?  Or maybe my strong yearning to see autumn rain is so much so that I'm hoping the late summer dry season could just hurry up and be over?  I'm getting impatient.  The sweet half hour of rain on Saturday was not enough to quench my thirst.

In any case, early Sunday morning while sipping coffee, Andy and I groggily discussed where we wanted to go for a hike.  Elkhorn Slough got tossed out, because it just didn't capture our fleeting interest - although it'd probably be fabulous for migrating birds starting about now.  I tend to avoid extremely dry and dusty Fort Ord this time of year, too.  Andy has been running enough at Jacks Peak lately that he didn't want to head there.  I suggested Mt. Madonna, because I figured the shady hills could provide us relief from the 70+°F heat predicted for the day.  Andy disagreed and thought it'd be blazing hot on the inland side of the mountain.  So, we settled on Garzas Creek with the promise of Jefferey's for breakfast.  I'm a little impressed and a little disturbed that we can rattle off various local places to hike and take a pick depending on the season and our finicky desires.

Our first observation when we got out of the car was how the oaks had a healthy crown of leaves, in stark contrast to the bare stripped branches we saw the last time we visited 10/14/12.  There were no oak moths to be found today.  I was expecting this to happen based on what I've read about oak moths.  Does anyone knows why oak moth populations crash after a couple years?

I have to say, I'm in awe with how much Garzas Creek blatantly changes through the seasons and from year to year.  Here on the coast with evergreen oaks and conifers bathed in moderate year-round temperatures, seasons are not always quite so obvious as it is at Garzas.  I've linked to past posts for photo comparisons below. 

(compare to second photo 11/19/11)

I'm starting to prefer the little redwood groves we have down here compared to the big monotonous forests starting around Santa Cruz going north.  I like the variety interspersed with oak/bay and maple/sycamore areas.  This trail is absolutely gorgeous when the leaves change colors and drop.

(compare to third photo 11/11/10)

It's difficult to tell for sure, but I think there's even less water this year than last year.  They take the footbridges out mid-November, which makes me wonder about the seasonal timing of the Creek. Does it always dry out, except for small pools of standing water here and there?  And, what's the typical timing?  How many rains before it starts running again?

(compare to first photo 07/14/11)

I was actually surprised to see all the dried buckeye leaves.  When everything is green the proliferation of buckeye trees is not as obvious.  I never really noticed them here before.  We usually hike here a little later than this in October or November, so the leaves would have already dropped.  I heard somewhere that buckeyes drop their leaves based on water (summer deciduous) and not light (autumn deciduous), like many other trees.  Is that true?

(compare to third photo 10/14/12)

Again, notice how the oaks are all intact and not ravaged by oak moths?  Looking back through these photos, I'm struck by how green it was.  Now, if it weren't for the dogs that jump all over you ("should be under owner control" - Ha!), Garzas could easily be my new favorite place to hike.

habitat ~ 07/24/13 ~ Wilder Ranch State Park

 Wilder Ranch State Park
July 24, 2013

After looking at these pictures and reading past habitat posts (03/07/10 and 09/17/11), I realize that I haven't given Wilder Ranch a fair shake.  For a couple years there, Z kept asking me to go hiking with her here.  I always refused.  From a speeding car along Hwy 1, I totally judged this park by its roadside cover.  It looked like the trails were nothing but hot, sunny, dusty paths through dried grasses (eh).  Plus, it was obviously a crowded place, given the number of cars parked on the side of the road for the common practice of avoiding paying the State Park Day Use Fee. It took Andy's encouragement for me to finally check it out.  While Andy went off to do his typical trail run, I strolled around by myself.  This day's visit was wholly pleasant and meditative with few interruptions by other bikers, horseback riders, or hikers.  Waldeinsamkeit.  The Engelsmans Loop trail currently has a zigzag detour towards Peasley Gulch, which I think improves the interest level of the trail.  The diversity of habitats in such a relatively small area really struck me as being special.  Wilder Ranch has grown on me.  I'll have to visit again, sooner rather than later.

Per our usual when we drive the hour it takes to get to the Santa Cruz area across Monterey Bay, we made plans to eat out for lunch.  This time we went to the Downtown Santa Cruz Farmers' Market, which is my favorite farmers' market for market variety, funky food vendors, and programs, like composting bins just for the weekly event (wish more markets did this!). While we waited for the market opening at 1:30, we discovered a new to us local coffee shop Verve.  Andy liked their short pull, while I enjoyed a refreshing homemade seasonal soda.  For dessert, we also discovered The Penny Ice Creamery, which has a booth at the market despite being located just down the street.  Both are places we will definitely patronize again.  Sometimes I think I could easily live up there, but then the heavier traffic stops me short.

habitat ~ 10/14/12 ~ Garland Ranch - Garzas Creek

Garland Ranch Regional Park - Garzas Creek

October 14, 2012

After seeing the gorgeous color change of the bigleaf maples up at Memorial Park a couple days earlier, I wanted to check how the seasonal progression was doing closer to home.  We heard there was only a sprinkling of rain here from the thunderstorm that passed through. Garzas Creek is the one place I particularly associate with native autumn colors from bigleaf maples and CA sycamores. It's 12 miles inland and often has 10-20 °F temperature extremes than at home on the Bay.  It was a bit chilly when we started our hike, and then it got uncomfortably toasty by lunchtime.  What surprised us initially was seeing all the evergreen oaks had been completely, and I mean completely, defoliated by CA oak moths.  It was eerie walking through a coastal CA oak forest with only grey bare branches, twigs, and dried grasses.  If it weren't so warm, I would have thought I was somewhere in February after a winter of regular freezing and snow.  The redwoods and CA bay trees were very easy to spot in the distance.  While the maples had pretty much lost all of their leaves, the sycamores were still quite green.  I wonder if there are different mechanisms for color change and leaf fall between the two tree spp.  Even though the foot bridges won't be taken out for another 2-3 weeks, they weren't necessary. Garzas Creek was bone dry in most places and only had a couple standing pools of water in others. The whole landscape felt very dry and somewhat flat of color to me.  Compare these pictures with those we took November 19, 2011 and November 11, 2010.  If we have more rain in the next 4-5 weeks, I wonder if the ferns and moss will show themselves.  What's unusual about our area is that winter usually signals a time of new green growth.  October is definitely a time of transition.

habitat ~ 10/11/12 ~ Memorial Park

Memorial Park

October 11, 2012

For the last 3 years we've headed south to Morro Bay in October.  Forecasts of a major thunderstorm all along the central CA coast made us rethink our usual.  For a 2-night camping trip, we prefer not to drive more than about 2 1/2 hours from home and definitely south of San Francisco to avoid the Bay Area traffic.  Keeping close tabs on weather predictions, north of Santa Cruz seemed like the best place to go with overcast skies and only 10% chance of precipitation.  It's thanks to fellow bloggers Dipper Ranch, Curbstone Valley Farm, Nature of a Man, Way Points, and Town Mouse and Country Mouse that I've become more interested in the Santa Cruz Mountains and even became aware of the extensive county parks, state parks, and open space preserves up there.

Andy found this small San Mateo County Park online and liked how it connected to other parks through trails for his typical trail running outing.  Bay Area Hiker has a nice summary of what the trails are like within Memorial Park.  One thing she doesn't mention, is the showers are old school - corrugated tin stalls painted many times over with that light-colored forest service green and ancient high pressure shower heads for 25 cents per 2+ minutes of very hot water.  Andy likened it to prison showers (not that he'd know), and I declined taking a shower at all because frankly they were a little creepy. And, true to Yelp reviews, the ranger was indeed gruff, but he gave us extra firewood stating he wanted to get rid of the larger pieces that wouldn't fit in neat bundles.  Based on his girth and the fairly new no smoking regulations, I have a suspicion as to why he seemed so grouchy. Actually, there were "no" signs everywhere for everything: no smoking, no hard liquor, no ground fires, no gathering of wood, no chopping wood on fire pits, no using water in fire pits, no washing dishes at water faucets, no raking or sweeping of sites, no swimming, no firearms, no fishing, no pets, no horses, no bikes, no skateboards, no scooters, no amplified music, no feeding wild animals, no this, no that, no, no, no. Not that it was a problem for us, but the signs were excessive.

When we arrived, we were quite surprised at the proliferation of camping sites and wondered why there were only a handful of campers around.  Typical of my rain curse, it thunderstormed right above our heads and dumped rain on us the first evening and drip, drip, dripped on us the remainder of our stay.  Chatting with a fellow camper, we heard we had apparently missed the biggest part of the storm the night before.  Needless to say, it was a bit exciting and extraordinarily beautiful to be camping in a freshly washed redwood forest littered with the changing colors of bigleaf maples. While we didn't get vast views from the summit of Mt. Ellen (not a big hill by any means), the sight of clouds through the mountains was breathtaking. I searched several times along Pescadero Creek for newts with no luck. We did see numerous gray squirrels, which I'm fairly sure were eastern grays and not western due to their brownish heads and casual demeanor around our campsite.  And, bright yellow banana slugs were out in full force probably enjoying the rain.  I would definitely go back again if we can time our visit with as few other visitors as possible.

habitat ~ 08/04/12 ~ Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park

Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park
August 4, 2012

The only reason why we were up at Henry Cowell, about an hour away from home, was so Andy could volunteer for the relatively new Inside Trail Racing group. For his time, he'll get free admission to another race. I'm glad he didn't run this race, because invariably people get stung by yellowjackets anytime an organized trail run goes through redwoods. Sure enough there were a handful of people who had stings by the finish line. We believe the repeated disturbance by runners agitates nests in the soft ground. Andy once had to cut short a 50K to "only" 30K at nearby Big Basin Redwoods State Park since he was stung a couple dozen times within the first half hour of his run and was quite uncomfortable. Yet, given a choice of trail mischief, he would rather have stings over poison-oak. Um, no thanks to both.

The last time we were here was 7 years ago when we took our nieces to ride a train in the adjacent Roaring Camp Railroads. It was an enjoyable visit with a staged train robbery and a short jaunt through the Redwood Grove Loop Trail. This time I wanted to explore other parts of the park on my own. It's definitely a family friendly place with a carnival-like atmosphere at the railroad, shallow and wadeable San Lorenzo River, car camping up the hill, and a great nature center. Thanks to the nature center, I learned about stump sprouts, which explains why redwoods are often found growing in a circular pattern even if the stump is no longer present. It also had a nice presentation of the lime kiln and logging history of the area. Once I got away from the kiddie crowds and the race trails, I enjoyed my hike a little more. Near the observation deck at 800 ft, I was surprised to find the burned area of the Santa Cruz Sandhill Chaparral considering all the houses in the area. I'll be curious to see if their winter/spring fires will actually achieve their goal of preserving rare plants and animals. Overall, unless we have kids in tow, I doubt we'll return to Henry Cowell, because its habitat is so similar to several nearby parks with fewer visitors.

habitat ~ 03/11/12 ~ Pogonip

Pogonip

March 11, 2012

I love the name Pogonip. I recall a childhood memory of laughing with my aunt as she jumped on a pogo stick, so it's a fond word association. In Shoshone it means "ice fog" or "cloud". Apparently, the word is unique enough that the City of Santa Cruz has no need to add "City Park" or other clarification to the official name of this open space.

This is the first time Andy and I have purposely hiked here. We were up in the area anyways to set up one of our extra computers for a friend's 4 kids to use for homework - hey, it's better than letting it collect dust in the garage or dumping it at the e-recycling. Once, the same friend and I utilized an entrance point to get to the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum while Andy ran trails over to Wilder Ranch and back. Another time, I briefly hiked parts of the southern trails from Harvey West Park. And, it's been so long since we've been to the adjacent Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park that I'm not sure if we even have pictures from our excursions.

Besides being tucked among other places we've visited, Pogonip really impressed us with its eclectic mix of trees for such a small, non-manicured city park. In addition to redwoods and a variety of oaks, there are surprises like huge cottonwoods, douglas-firs, madrones, eucalyptus, and palm trees (yes, palm trees in the middle of the woods!). Before the City of Santa Cruz acquired the land, it had been used as an exclusive social club, WWII rehab center, women's polo fields, golf course, and, of course, redwood logging. The clubhouse, the pool, and surrounding area are in total disrepair. It's sad to see natural areas and historical places used, abused, and neglected.

I have to say I'm glad I didn't look into Pogonip before going. We found a couple signs that said parts were closed due to "public nuisance", which I have since learned is because of the prolific drug trade on this land. I also found out there's a mountain lion that's been reported several times in the past few months at Pogonip. Truth be told, I'm more afraid of the mountain lion than anyone cracked up on heroin. After my visit to Pogonip, I'm left pondering how nature gradually heals itself compared to us humans with all our junk and wacky ways.

habitat ~ 11/19/11 ~ Garland Ranch - Garzas Creek

Garland Ranch Regional Park - Garzas Creek
November 19, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving! Garzas Creek is going to become my must-do pre-Thanksgiving hike. It's one of the only places around Monterey that has large, native, crunchy, deciduous leaves to tromp through and feels almost like the autumn most people expect in North America. The area along the creek is absolutely gorgeous!

Andy is training for a 50K trail run, so he sped off while I casually took a short loop. We planned to meet up at our favorite restaurant Jeffrey's at Carmel Mid-Valley for lunch. Thanks to a couple of hikers with a dog that liked to jump on me (I had muddy footprints all over me!), I veered off to the redwood trail to avoid them. I worried I wouldn't get back in time to meet Andy, but I am so glad I took this new-to-me trail. The trail loops back to the creek for some of the most scenic spots.

As the sign says, the seasonal foot bridges were taken out the Monday before my hike. I asked a fellow if the creek was passable. He was confident that it could be crossed at the 4 intersections along the trail. Note to self: do not take the advice of a 6 foot tall man with walking sticks if a creek is passable. While I love rock hopping, it helps if you don't have muddy shoes and aren't needing to pass over wet rocks. I managed just fine once I found a couple large sticks to help me balance. After my very grouchy previous week, this hike really helped cheer me up. It was food for the soul, and I am thankful for places like this.

habitat ~ 07/14/11 ~ Garland Ranch - Garzas Creek

Garland Ranch Regional Park - Garzas Creek
July 14, 2011

posted 09/04/11 - We were surprised at how lush and green it felt along the trails leading to Garzas Creek. This is California in mid-July where "The Golden State" could just as well be describing the fields and hills of bright yellow dried grasses. Because of this, July and August are not my favorite times of the year; I have very few hiking posts the past few years for these months. While we didn't get down to the redwood trail, I want to show there are redwoods at Garland Ranch. I have only hiked here a couple of times, compared to the main Garland Ranch entrance at Carmel River. I think I may have to visit Garzas Creek more often.

habitat ~ 12/21/10 ~ Mt. Madonna County Park

Mount Madonna County Park
December 21, 2010

posted 01/04/11 - Here's my typical final take-a-step-back-and-look-around habitats post, even though I have several other pics to ID from this excursion, which I may backdate at a later time. Visiting friends and family over the holidays took precedence over keeping up with blogging, as it should be. I haven't even gotten to my cool pics in San Francisco on Christmas Day.

I've said it numerous times before how I almost canceled this trip due to severe winter weather forecasts (i.e., on the CA coast, this term means heavy rain and lots of wind). I am so glad Andy talked me into keeping our yurt reservations. Despite the potential cold, a part of me hoped to have some snow before Christmas, since Mt. Madonna gets a decent dusting a couple times a winter. No luck on that front. After expressing concerns about keeping warm and dry, a friend showed up the night before our trip with a huge pile of dry wood and an axe to make kindling. Thank you, Steve!!! Having a campfire is one of my favorite things and the rain cooperated just enough so that I could make several decent fires to cook and warm ourselves. And, yes, we had 2 camping stoves as backup and more sandwich material than I'd like to eat again anytime soon. The hiking in the rain was incredible! As evidenced in my previous posts for this day, I saw life I've never seen before.

I guess I should mention the broken, moss covered steps in the first picture above were once the grand entrance to Henry Miller's summer home. Without his family's sale of the land to Santa Clara County, Mount Madonna County Park would not exist. The red ground is due to dead redwood needles. The last picture shows the view northwest towards Santa Cruz from near the entrance to the park at Hecker Pass.